Poultry clip device



y 5, 1964 E. J. GLATZ 3,131,448

' POULTRY CLIP DEVICE Filed May 9, 1962 INVENTOR Edward J. Gloiz I -"9,LWeW

Attorney United States Patent 3,131,448 POULTRY CLIP DEV 113E Edward I. Glatz, 10632 S. Ridgeway, Chicago 55, iii. Filed May 9, 1962, Ser. No. 193,378 2 Claims. (Cl. 24-87) This invention relates to a clamping device for use in closing the incision into the cavity of an eviscerated fowl to retain stuffing or the like therein.

The restaurant trade, as well as the ordinary housewife, has long been confronted with the problem of closing the incision into the cavity on an eviscerated fowl after the cavity has been stuffed with dressing or the like preparatory to roasting the fowl.

Heretofore, the incision into the cavity has simply been sewed shut, or skewers have been placed through portions of the fowl adjacent the incision and cord has been interlaced between such skewers to close the incision and retain the stufiing inside the fowl. These methods are time consuming and frustrating especially for the inexperienced millions of Americans who truss the festive turkey only twice a year.

The object of this invention is to provide an inexpensive device suitable for closing the incision made in disemboweling a turkey or the like with maximum speed and requiring very little skill.

This object is accomplished by the use of a two piece clamp having a shaft with a hooked end as one piece and a lock piece slidable on such shaft. The hooked end has grippers thereon which are dug into the flesh on one side of the incision to be closed and the lock piece, also having grippers thereon, is pressed toward the hooked end of the shaft until the grippers of the lock piece dig into the flesh on the opposite side of the incision to be closed. The expansive force of the clamped flesh causes the lock piece to cant on the shaft and the clamp is frictionally held in this position. The lock piece has a protruding tip or release portion which is pressed away from the incision thereby releasing the lock piece, and hence the clamping action, when desired.

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in, or be apparent from, the specification and claims, as will obvious modifications of the single embodiment shown in the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the clamp shaft and lock piece, the phantom lines show the lock piece in released position;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the lock piece;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the hooked end of the shaft of the clamp;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a fowl wherein the chest incision is held closed by three of the clamps described herein.

Referring to the drawings, clamp piece 1% consists of a shaft 16 with a hooked end 12 having grippers 14 thereon. Shaft 16 has an angular cross section as shown in FIG. 2. This angular cross section is important as it facilitates the frictional binding action described below.

A lock piece 18 has an angular aperture 211 which is similar to the cross section of shaft 16 and slightly larger. Lock piece 18 has grippers 22 on one end thereof.

Lock piece 18 fits on shaft 16 and is advanced toward hooked end 12 of shaft 16 when it is desired to clamp shut an incision of a fowl or the like. Grippers 14 on hooked end 12 are bent toward the lock piece and grippers 22 on the lock piece are bent out of the plane of flat body portion 19 of the lock piece toward grippers 14. Upon grippers 14 and 22 compressing flesh therebetween the natural resiliency of the flesh exerts an expansive force against the grippers and causes the lock piece to cant and frictionally bind on shaft 16. This prevents movement of the lock piece thereby retaining the incision in the fowl in a closed position.

Lock piece 18 has release portion 24 in which aperture 211 is made. When the clamp is being squeezed to a clamping position the operator presses his fingers against the body portion 13 of hooked end 12 and the fiat body portion 19 of the lock piece and this causes release portion 24, which is bent out of the plane of body portion 19, to be substantially normal to shaft 16 so that the lock piece can slide thereon with a minimum of friction. To release the clamp, release portion 24 is pushed to the right (as shown by the arrow in FIG. 1) to the position shown in phantom lines in PEG. 1 so that the frictional bind between the lock piece and shaft 16 is released. Clamp piece 1% and lock piece 1% may be simply and i" xpensively stamped and formed to the desired shapes from metal, or they can be inexpensively produced by plastic extrusion or molding.

If desired, a retainer (not shown) can be provided on the end of shaft 16 opposite hooked end 12 to retain lock piece 18 permanently on shaft 16.

Although only one embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A clamp for closing an incision in a fowl, comprising: a clamp piece including a shaft and a hooked end, said hooked end having a first gripper depending therefrom, and said shaft being of relatively thin cross-section; and a lock piece including a locking portion and a second gripper, said grippers each having multipronged end portions inclined toward one another, said locking portion having an aperture of substantially the same configuration as the cross-section of said shaft, said aperture being of a dimension slightly larger than said shaft so that said shaft is slidably received in said aperture, said locking portion being of relatively thin cross-section and substantially normally disposed to said shaft in a first position in which said lock piece is free for movement along said shaft, and said locking portion being moved to a second position when a resilient object is confined between said grippers in which said locking portion and shaft f rm an acute angle with respect to one another to thereby frictionally lock said lock piece on said shaft.

2. The clamp of claim 1 wherein said shaft is substantially angular in cross-section and said aperture in said locking portion has the same configuration as does the cross-section of said shaft.

References Oited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 268,632 Danforth Dec. 1882 347,679 Williams Aug. 10, 1886 473,412 Barker Apr. 19, 1892 533,901 Hutchinson Feb. 12, 1895 883,634 FOX Mar. 31, 1908 1,112,679 Craig Oct. 6, 1914 1,666,293 Lorton Apr. 17, 1928 2,099,960 Johnson Nov. 23, 1937 2,126,605 Beery Aug. 9, 1938 2,669,747 Detaranto Feb. 23, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 513,903 Belgium Sept. 30, 1952 

1. A CLAMP FOR CLOSING AN INCISION IN A FOWL, COMPRISING: A CLAMP PIECE INCLUDING A SHAFT AND A HOOKED END, SAID HOOKED END HAVING A FIRST GRIPPER DEPENDING THEREFROM, AND SAID SHAFT BEING OF RELATIVELY THIN CROSS-SECTION; AND A LOCK PIECE INCLUDING A LOCKING PORTION AND A SECOND GRIPPER, SAID GRIPPERS EACH HAVING MULTIPRONGED END PORTIONS INCLINED TOWARD ONE ANOTHER, SAID LOCKING PORTION HAVING AN APERTURE OF SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME CONFIGURATION AS THE CROSS-SECTION OF SAID SHAFT, SAID APERTURE BEING OF A DIMENSION SLIGHTLY LARGER THAN SAID SHAFT SO 